Following my preview of the upcoming Saints Row reboot, I spoke with the Executive Producer of Volition Rob Loftus about the developer’s work on the game, and the divided reactions to its announcement. Looking at the comments and like-to-dislike ratios on multiple trailers for the game, the criticism is obvious: for many fans, the new crew just doesn’t feel as compelling as Johnny Gat, Shaundi, and crew. With some worried that the reboot wasn’t quite “gangster” enough compared to earlier entries, Loftus was on-hand to respond to those critics, and answer more questions about the reboot and the future of the series.
Crew Members Not Feeling Gangster Enough
To put some context on what “not gangster enough” means, there’s a schism. Those who prefer the attitude of Saints Row 1 and 2 want the reboot to be closer to those games, whereas those who enjoyed the over-the-top craziness of Saints Row 3 and 4 don’t mind the direction of the reboot as much. But even then, many agree that the new crew members for the Saints — the driver with an art degree Neenah, the businessman with a bowtie Erik, and the always shirtless DJ Kevin — don’t seem like they’re badass commanders. I suggested in my preview that these roommates being naive and relatively untested is part of the origin story, a good opportunity for cool character arcs, but first impressions can be everything.
When asked about what he would say to those who are hesitant about the reboot, Loftus explained: “It’s all in how you look at it. It’s a crew of criminals who are starting drug operations, using Chalupracabra taco trucks selling drugs all throughout the city. What they do is criminal.”
Loftus also suggested that appearances aren’t everything when it comes to the new Saints: “I think maybe people respond perhaps to the look of the characters a certain way, but the actions you’re doing within the game are criminal. We retain the criminal sandbox of what Saints Row has always been, which is gunplay, car chases, the wild moments.”
If the issue was about how Eli, Kevin, and Neenah looked, perhaps there was a way to change it. Since Saints Row 2, players could unlock the option for Gang Customization. I didn’t complete enough story-critical missions within the four hours to reach that point, but Loftus confirmed that you can alter the outfits for them and the rest of the Saints gang through Crew Customization. It’s unclear if you can change the costumes for Eli, Kevin, and Neenah individually, but at least there are options to make them look more badass than their default skins.
Cross-Play Co-op
One of the best parts of my hands-on session was playing the game in co-op with Paulmichael Contreras, a colleague at PlayStation LifeStyle. Enemies can be pretty tough even on the middle Entrepreneur difficulty setting, and being able to revive each other was the primary way we both got through the session fast enough to explore all the other side hustles and activities.
That said, co-op play is untethered two-player online, but only cross-gen. While Loftus couldn’t speak to the roadmap for the reboot as far as future DLC, patches, and updates, he did respond to the possibility of cross-play co-op: “We want as many people as possible to play Saints Row and that’s one of the ways to do it, so we’ll look to that in the future.”
Out of curiosity, I also asked Loftus if there was anything partway through the game that we should anticipate, something unexpected. “I can’t talk about it just yet, but there’s a great piece of content that we haven’t shown off yet,” was his understandably vague reply. “It’s one of the team’s favorite elements, one of my favorite elements. It leans into more of the Saints Row humor.”
When I mentioned that it seems like he was talking about another cool side hustle, Loftus said that it was “a bit more than a side activity.” That’s good, because I didn’t see one floppy purple dildo in the reboot at all during my play session, so I’m hoping that there’s something in the game that’s more ridiculous than that.
Saints Row 1 and 2 Remasters
Last but not least, I asked Loftus about the possibility of perhaps the most requested game for Volition to make: a Saints Row 1 or 2 remaster. The developer has denied this several times in the past. And though this is a decision that Volition can’t make without consulting publisher Deep Silver, Loftus gave fans some hope: “Absolutely. We’re always open to that. We think of that as a service to the community. People want to see a remaster of Saints Row or Saints Row 2. Whatever piece of Volition history they want, it’s something we’re interested in doing.”
Saints Row releases on August 23, 2022, for Xbox Series X and S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, and PC (via Epic Games Store).
